In the June primary election, which saw only a small turnout, they removed Senators Sandy Senn, Penry Gustafson and Katrina Shealy from office, completely eliminating the Republican wing of the five-member “Sister Senators.” This female group also included two Democrats who were united in their opposition to the abortion ban.

For Republicans, the departure of Senn, Gustafson and Shealy likely means there will be no women in the Senate majority party when the next legislative session begins in 2025. It could also mean that women will not wield power for decades in this ultra-conservative state, where they have long struggled to enter the legislature.

How little political influence has women had in South Carolina historically? Small portraits of every woman who has ever served in the 170-seat state legislature in its 250 years of existence fit on a framed poster right outside the governor's office.

The sudden departure of Republican women poses a potential power problem because the Senate allocates influence and responsibility to the majority party based on seniority rules. Half of the Republican-dominated state's representatives were elected in 2012 or earlier, so it will likely be the 2040s before a future Republican woman can rise to leadership or committee chairmanship.

“Women, someone else has to step up. Someone else has to come and make things right,” Senn said in her farewell speech on June 26.

Unless a woman wins a district dominated by the other party in November, South Carolina's 46-member Senate will have just two women when the 126th session begins in January. No other state in the country would have fewer women in its upper chamber, according to the Center of American Women in Politics. Women make up 55 percent of the state's registered voters.

That gap should alarm everyone in South Carolina, said Sen. Tameika Isaac Devine, who won her seat in a special election this year and became the sixth member of the Sister Senators. Next year, Devine and her Democratic colleague, Sen. Margie Bright Matthews, will likely be the only women in the chamber.

“No matter how much empathy men may have, they haven't had children. They haven't had hysterectomies. They don't struggle with the health issues or the societal issues that we face every day,” Devine said.

Instead of a total ban on abortion, South Carolina finally bans it as soon as cardiac activity is detected, typically in the sixth week of pregnancy.

The three female senators then gained international recognition, followed by two female Democrats. Cover stories and television appearances culminated in the presentation of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award to people who risk their careers for the common good.

But this attention had another side. Strict anti-abortion activists put up billboards in their constituencies and sent out promotional letters in which they called the three Republicans “baby killers.”

“When you're on CNN and MSNBC and you're on the front page of the New York Times and the Washington Post, you're constantly pointing the finger in the face of many conservatives,” said Republican Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey.

Massey said abortion is not the only issue for the Republican sister senators. “Their opponents have successfully portrayed them all as soft-spoken and out of touch with reality,” he said.

Voters in Lexington County, a conservative suburb west of Columbia, said they could not trust Shealy after voting for her three times.

“She lost me on the abortion vote,” said Alexis Monts. “And I don't think I have to vote for just one woman to have equal representation.”

Historically, women have had a worse time in the South Carolina Senate. From 2009 to 2013, when Shealy was first elected, there was not a single woman there. Her goals were to protect veterans, women, families, children and other vulnerable groups.

In her 12 years in the Senate, Shealy has made a big difference. Forty-eight of her bills have passed, including those requiring an investigation into every suspicious child death, prohibiting people with disabilities from being paid less than the minimum wage, and requiring the state to develop a plan to address the rising number of dementia cases. No other senator has passed more legislation in recent years.

“We've helped children, families and the disabled. We've helped women and veterans,” Shealy said after her defeat in the runoff election. “And what worries me so much is who's going to do that now?”

Shealy has also made small changes. The women's restrooms in the Senate building were gray and dreary when she arrived. She brought her own art and knickknacks and stocked them with lotions and other items.

All of this was an attempt to bring change to a General Assembly where women have often been belittled and forgotten. On Shealy's first day in 2013, the session opened with the words, “Gentlemen of the Senate, please rise.”

Angered, leadership changed the name to “Gentlemen and Ladies of the Senate.” Shealy said that was also derogatory because it suggested there were different levels of membership. Meetings now begin with “Members of the Senate.”

Shealy often looked at the walls of the Senate chambers and saw no woman to whom a portrait was dedicated.

“You can tell how hard it is by the comments some people make in the lobby. Things like 'women are not fit to serve' or 'God doesn't want us here,'” Shealy said during the abortion debate last year. “Well, God is pretty smart. If God didn't want us here, we probably wouldn't be here.”

A group called SC Women in Leadership has been encouraging women to run for office for six years. They train Democrats and Republicans to become better candidates in local and statewide elections and support them if they are elected. But they said it will take time to get more women in office. Shealy didn't win her first race. Neither did her Republican colleague Gustafson.

Each of the Republican sister senators said Republicans are tougher on women because of conservative views on gender roles. A man finds problems. A woman complains. A man is forceful and decisive. A woman is bossy and pushy.

“It can be exhausting at times. I felt like I was always being judged in a way that my friends, the Democrats, were not,” Gustafson said after her defeat in the primary.

As she delivered her farewell speech, Shealy pulled out the $36,000 lantern trophy that the Profiles in Courage group awards to its winners. Her four original Sister Senators — only Matthews will be back in the next session — came to her aid as she struggled a little to get the trophy out of its case.

“Here it is. And it's beautiful. And I'm proud of it. I'm proud of losing that Senate race just to get this because I stood up for what's right. I stood up for women. I stood up for children. I stood up for South Carolina. And all these female senators with me are not ashamed,” Shealy said.